


Where Light in Darkness Lies

by heresy_in_fair



Category: Basque Mythology - Fandom, Love's Labour's Lost - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: Basque Country, Caves, Friendship, Gen, Mythology References, No Romance, Pre-Canon, Supernatural Elements, i had to create the basque mythology and mari tag for this, i have no clue how to tag this clearly, probably the most self-indulgent thing i've ever written, rosaline pov again because i am nothing if not predictable, the tiniest bit scary for like a few paragraphs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heresy_in_fair/pseuds/heresy_in_fair
Summary: Admittedly, late fall was not the best time of year the Princess could have chosen for this trip, especially when that trip involved the rainiest part of the country, muddy hiking trails, and carrying all their belongings in backpacks.Or, the Princess of France plans a hiking trip with Rosaline, Katherine, and Maria, but things don't quite go as planned.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Where Light in Darkness Lies

**Author's Note:**

> I had no clue what time period I was going for when I first started writing this, but it turned into the modern era, I think. I also was not planning on incorporating Basque mythology, but, well, here we are… My apologies for the fact that Mari and Maria are incredibly similar names, but it didn’t feel right to change either of them.  
> (Also, this contains probably the worst simile I’ve ever used in my life, but I don’t want to take it out because it amuses me. So in case you don’t know, morcillo/a is a type of blood sausage.)

Boyet was droning on again.

Rosaline snuck a glance to her left, only to be met with a similar look from the Princess. She smirked, and the corner of Cess’ mouth quirked up. Boyet was undeniably a friend at this point, but he did have a bad habit of making everything into a long, convoluted story. Rosaline was fully prepared to tune out completely for a few minutes when a certain phrase caught her ear.

“He rather means to lodge you in the field,” Boyet said, gimacing, and paused apologetically before continuing to babble away. Rosaline, her gaze still locked on the Princess’ face, felt her eyes widen in a strange mix of shock, excitement, and fear. Without saying anything, she knew Cess was remembering the same day: the day the two of them, along with Katherine and Maria, first camped on their own.

***

“Um… that?” Maria guessed, gesturing to the yellow flowers on the nearby bush. As she pointed at it, her foot got caught in a muddy patch and she stumbled forward.

“Nope!” Katherine beamed, grabbing Maria’s backpack and hauling her back to her feet. “Guess again.”

“Your shoes,” suggested Rosaline from behind Katherine. 

“That’s not fair,” Katherine whined. “You can see them!”

“Yeah, and I can’t!” Maria said. She shook her head. “Of course you would try and trick me. Besides, what with all the mud, they’re barely even yellow anymore.” She pouted and carefully stepped around more puddles in her path. Rosaline could practically feel Katherine’s eyeroll. 

“It’s just I Spy, idiot, you’re supposed to try and trick people.” Rosaline had to admit that both girls made excellent points. From the front of the group, the Princess muttered something under her breath about rain and mud. 

“What’s the matter, Cess?” Rosaline called up to her. 

“I said, who let Pays Basque get so much rain? This mud will be the death of me,” the Princess responded. As if on cue, Rosaline heard a squelching noise, and the girls in front of her halted one by one. Stepping to the side of the path to see what was going on, she caught a glimpse of the Princess balancing on one foot as Maria bent forward to try and retrieve a sneaker from a patch of mud. The Princess’ hair frizzed out of its ponytail, her pants were splattered with mud, and she teetered from side to side as she struggled to keep her balance. She looked a far cry from the picturesque, collected front she usually presented at court, and Rosaline felt privileged to see it.

“You can’t deny that it’s beautiful, though,” Maria offered as the Princess aggressively yanked her shoe back on. She was right; the green countryside of the French Pays Basque was breathtaking. The path they were on traversed the side of a small mountain, carving a winding road through vivid green grass, scattered wooded spaces, and the occasional sheep. In the valley below them, Rosaline could make out a few scattered farmhouses, their red roofs and nearby pastures standing out amongst the green.

Admittedly, late fall was not the best time of year the Princess could have chosen for this trip, especially when that trip involved the rainiest part of the country, muddy hiking trails, and carrying all their belongings in backpacks. The sky above them was a wall of gray, minus one white cloud floating in the horizon, and Rosaline’s shoes and socks were soaked through from all the puddles they’d encountered along the way. Still, the Princess seemed to be enjoying herself, and Rosaline knew this trip was a much-needed escape from the highbrow, preening, and despicably fake court culture that they were all immersed in.

With a start, Rosaline realized that the other girls had already resumed their hike, and she scrambled to catch up. As she entered into earshot, the Princess was already talking.  
“... maybe a mile and a half away? I’m not sure, we’re supposed to enter a wooded area soon…” Cess frowned at the map in her hands, somehow managing to daintily step around any obstacles in the path without seeing where she was going. Katherine craned her neck around the two girls in front of her and huffed.  
“Like that?” Katherine asked, pointing ahead. The Princess stopped in her tracks and looked up.

Ahead of them stood the entrance to a small forest that might have looked inviting if not for the late season and overcast skies. The leaves on the trees, probably green and vibrant in the summertime, were beginning to turn brown and faded. Despite this, the forest still looked pretty dense. As the four girls slowly continued walking forward, Rosaline could see around the bend in the road, and the path seemed to take a sharp turn into… a cave?

“Yep,” the Princess attested quietly. “Like that. Except, uh, no one mentioned anything about a cave.” 

As they entered the grove of trees, Rosaline shivered involuntarily. The ground was a bit drier here, and they had some cover if it started raining, but a tingling feeling started at the base of her spine. The path widened out considerably after the first few meters of forest, and the girls fell into line next to each other. Rosaline, on the right-hand side, gripped Katherine’s arm and felt the other girl tense under her touch.

As they continued deeper into the cave, the light, instead of fading, seemed to get brighter and warmer. The walls of the cave were still high and wide, with a stalactite here and there, and a small stream of water on the right-hand side that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. None of the girls spoke, though Rosaline could feel the tension in the air. She tried humming a snatch of a childhood song, but it was swallowed up by the close air of the cave. 

Maria’s voice rang out, louder than it should have sounded. “Is it me, or… are we, um. Are we going down?” Glancing behind her, Rosaline realized that Maria was right- without any of the girls noticing, the path had sloped deeper into the cave. 

The Princess sucked in a breath. “Yep, yep, this is… oh, this is not on the map. Oh, no, I don’t like this. Not one bit.” Her voice sounded way too loud and tinny.

“Relax, Cess,” Katherine said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone. Instead, she just sounded annoyed. “It’s fine. Maps aren’t always the most accurate. I know you didn’t want to use technology, but here, I bet if we look on my phone, it’ll- oh.” As she chattered, Katherine had pulled her phone out and turned it on- or at least, tried to. The screen was cracked right across the front, and the screen displayed an image of a golden castle on a red background.

“Nice lockscreen, Katherine,” Rosaline tried to joke. “What, you don’t get enough of a palace back at court? Should we paint it over with gold leaf?”

Katherine slowly pivoted to look at her. “That’s not my lockscreen,” she whispered. Her eyes were wide with panic, but she shook her head almost imperceptibly and looked over her shoulder, where the Princess and Maria had broken off and were walking on. Rosaline understood her perfectly: No need to worry those two any more than necessary.

“Well, there’s no service!” Katherine said, trying to be cheerful. The Princess balked; she looked like she’d just been served morcillo, except with fresh human blood instead of the normal filling. “It’s fine, it’s normal. We’re in a cave, after all. Let’s just keep going. I’m sure we’re almost at the end.” Katherine grinned and went to pocket her phone, but Maria reached out and grabbed her wrist, exposing the phone’s cracked surface. Suddenly, the blood drained out of her cheeks.

“We need to leave,” she whispered, her eyes darting around. Rosaline shrugged, content to get out of the cave, and hoisted her backpack up, spinning over her shoulder and-  
“No!” Maria shrieked. “Don’t turn around.” 

Rosaline froze, pivoting her upper body back towards the deeper areas of the cave. “Er, and why not, exactly?” she asked as the tingle moved farther up her spine.   
Maria swallowed, took a deep breath, and sat down, facing the same way as the other girls. She gestured for them to sit as well, and once they did, she folded her hands in her lap, grimacing. “Do you guys remember how my mom is from Saint-Jean-de-Luz? So I’m half Basque?” she asked, her tone betraying how on-edge she still was. The girls nodded, the Princess murmuring assent as she tucked her head into Maria’s shoulder. “Right. So. She used to tell me stories about mythology from the Basque Country and Navarre, and - Um, let me preface this by saying I’m not superstitious, or religious, really, ‘cause also, I’m an atheist, so, like-”

“Oh, get on with it,” Katherine cut her off.

Maria shot her a look and continued. “Fine. er, there’s this woman - goddess - witch? I’m not sure, named Mari.”

Rosaline snorted. “Creative name.” The girls looked at her, and she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Continue.”

“Her name, Mari, it means ‘Señora,’ or, like, Miss or Mrs. She’s the supreme deity, the earth goddess, but she’s not quite… she’s great if you believe in her, and are respectful, and all, but she’s not… the most forgiving. Necessarily. And, well, she lives in caves, and she often appears in a red dress with a gold palace just like that one, and…”

Maria trailed off. Rosaline raised an eyebrow. “So say she’s real. Say this is her cave, or whatever… so what? Why can’t I turn around?”

“Yeah, I call BS,” Katherine chimed in.

Maria wrinkled her nose. “You aren’t supposed to enter her cave without permission. If you have permission, you must go and sit in front of her, and use this certain form of “you”, and when you leave you’re supposed to walk backwards. Never turn around.”

“Or?” the Princess said quietly.

“I don’t know.”

“Ah,” said Katherine, her voice quaking a bit. She seemed to have accepted that what Maria was saying made sense, considering their current situation. Rosaline grabbed her hand and held it, and she could see Maria do the same on the other side of Katherine. “So.. now what?”

“Well. I don’t think it’s polite to just up and leave, so I guess… um… we try to meet her?”

The Princess stood up. “Yes. Meet her. Alright, I’ll go.”

The others stared at her in shock. “Wh-- you want to go?” Rosaline finally stuttered.

“No, but… this was my idea. I can’t ask any of you guys to put yourselves in danger when-” 

The sound of footsteps cut her off. Rosaline’s heart stopped in her chest, and she looked up to see a woman approaching from the depths of the cave. She was clad in an elegant red dress, with dark hair, brown eyes, and a long nose with a sharp bump at the tip. In her hands she clutched a gold castle just like the one on Katherine’s phone screen. A warm glow accompanied her, but so did the spine-tingling feeling from before, only this time it was in Rosaline’s neck.

Maria’s eyes widened, and she sat up straighter. “Mari,” she breathed, her eyes wide. The Princess went to stand, presumably planning to curtsy, but Maria yanked her back down.  
Mari opened her mouth and said something. Rosaline had no clue what she had said, but she assumed it was Basque. She looked over at Maria, silently hoping her Basque mother would have taught her at least some of the language. 

“Kaixo,” Maria said, then paused. Katherine gulped. “Uh….” Maria slowly managed a few sentences, and Mari beamed, responding quickly. Maria inclined her head, murmuring, “Eskerrik asko.”

The woman in red leaned down and placed a hand on Maria’s head, surrounding the girl in a warm glow. The Princess gasped and pulled her head off her friend’s shoulder, staring. Mari whispered a few words in Maria’s ear, then pulled away and walked off. She was gone as quickly as she had arrived.

Katherine turned to Maria, who still had a faint glow about her. “What was that?” she questioned.

Maria shrugged nonchalantly. She seemed incredibly at ease compared to just a few moments before. “I explained why we were here and how I knew of her. She told me I was free to go, but that I shouldn’t forget my Basque heritage any longer.”

Rosaline, who had been studying Maria intently to discern why the other girl suddenly looked different, sprang up from the floor. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing to a necklace around Maria’s neck that definitely had not been there before. On it hung a metal charm with four offshoots that curved around each other.

Maria looked down, seemingly surprised at the necklace. “Oh!” she said delightedly. “It’s a lauburu! A Basque symbol!” Her eyes misted up a bit. “I used to have a necklace like this, but I forgot it when I came to live at the palace.” Maria lovingly tucked the charm under her shirt, then looked up to find the Princess, Katherine, and Rosaline staring at her. “What?”

“You know you can always go back to visit Saint-Jean-de-Luz, right?” the Princess asked softly. “With or without us.” 

Maria sniffled, her eyes welling up. “Um. Yeah. Yeah, of course. I just--”

“Oh, honey,” the Princess breathed, reaching over to fold Maria in her arms. The younger girl let out a sob and clutched the Princess’ arm. “It’s okay to miss your mom. It’s okay to miss your life before us.”

“Thank you,” Maria whispered. “I just… I do miss it sometimes, you know? Or I feel like I don’t deserve to be her daughter, because I’m not Basque enough! ‘Cause, you know, I barely speak the language, and I don’t live there…”

“Anyone would be lucky to have you as their daughter, Maria,” Rosaline said fiercely, scooting behind Katherine to join the Princess and Maria’s hug. She felt Katherine pile on top, too.

“And who cares if you don’t live there or don’t speak the language? If your mom was from there, and you feel like you belong there, or could someday, then you’re good,” Katherine sighed. “But if you decide to move there permanently, I’m coming too. I can’t handle Rosaline without you as a buffer.”

“Hey!” Rosaline exclaimed indignantly, but she didn’t pursue the matter any further as she felt Maria shake with soft laughter. “We love you, Maria.” 

“Thank you,” the girl gulped out, then gently shook the others off. “We should head out, though. I’m sure it’s getting dark out there, and I don’t want it to rain on us before we can set up camp.”

The Princess, Rosaline, Katherine, and Maria collected their bags and stood, but before any of them could turn around, Maria warned, “Don’t turn your backs! We have to walk out backwards.”

Rosaline’s calves complained the whole way out of the cave, but the girls bantered and joked, making it bearable. The rest of the hike was filled with laughter and light; Maria continued to glow faintly and the girls discussed anything and everything under the sun. Once they had set up camp, they ate a quick meal and got ready for bed.

Inside the tent, the four girls lay in their sleeping bags. Rosaline propped herself up on her forearms to watch them all. The Princess lay on her back, regally staring up at the stars through the hole in the top of the tent. Katherine was sprawled over her sleeping bag, taking up twice as much space as necessary, while Maria was curled in a ball, clutching her necklace in her hand. 

“I spy, with my little eye… “ Katherine whispered.

Rosaline groaned. “Oh, not right now, please.” 

Maria giggled. “I love you guys.”

Katherine reached over and squeezed Maria’s hand. Rosaline glanced around the tent, smiling, not wanting to break the companionable silence that had began to build up. Then a voice spoke from beside her, where the Princess lay and watched the stars.

“We love you too.”

***

“... to let you enter his unpeopled house,” Boyet finished, looking ashamed at being the one to deliver these news to the Princess.

“All right, Boyet,” the Princess said, turning away from him.

“Sorry?” the man asked, peering at them from behind his owl-like glasses.

“I said, that’s fine. I don’t care. I’m not gonna make it easy for the King, though,” Cess laughed. Boyet looked at her incredulously, then looked towards where the King and his lords were approaching in the distance.

“So, excited to camp out again?” the Princess asked the three girls.

“I mean, as long as it doesn’t involve any supernatural encounters,” Rosaline replied. “We’re good here, right, Maria?”

The younger girl winced. “Well…”

“Oh, lord,” Katherine muttered under her breath. Maria waved a hand at her, annoyed.

“No, I’m sure it’s fine. But most of the Basque supernatural entities my mom told me about are also associated with Navarre,” Maria explained. Katherine looked at her warily. “But I’m sure it’s fine! There’s no reason for them to come this close to the King’s palace, anyway.”

“As long as you’re sure, Maria,” the Princess said. Maria nodded, albeit a little hesitant, but the Princess seemed to decide it was good enough. The four girls stood side by side and faced the approaching King and his party, their hands instinctively clasping together.

**Author's Note:**

> The two Basque words Maria says are “Hello” and “Thank you”. Creative, I know, but I know maybe 20 Basque works tops (including marionette! Which would not have been very helpful in this context) and I don’t trust online translating services to get Basque correct so. Yeah.  
> All information about Mari is taken from a little book I have called Mitología del País Vasco y Navarra, which is published by some place called “Los Cuadernos de Urogallo”, so if anyone notices something that is not correct, take it up with them (no actually though, tell me! I I want to make sure I’m accurately representing her! Although I did take some liberties with the whole glowing thing.)  
> Also, my descriptions definitely don’t do it justice, so you should look up the Pays Basque/ País Vasco/ Basque Country. It’s gorgeous, and is probably my favorite place in the world. Imagine my delight when I remembered that part of it was in France! (And is in fact very close to Navarre!) You can also look up a lauburu if you’re curious. Oh, and the cave referenced is not based on any particular real cave, but there are caves, some with paintings, in the general region!


End file.
